Is Mission: Impossible - Fallout one of the best action films ever made, comparable to Mad Max: Fury Road as David Ehrlich posited? Not quite, but damn if I didn’t have a great time with that film. Now there’s a franchise that knows exactly what it is, and audiences know exactly what they want from it. The sixth installment in the series gave Tom Cruise the 2nd largest opening weekend of his career and the biggest for the franchise itself. $61.5m is actually a tad short of what Box Office Mojo predicted but it’s still stellar stuff, especially given Paramount’s recent troubles. The audience for this one was 45% women, compared to 38% for the last film. I’m not saying that’s all Henry Cavill’s doing but hey, did you see him punch those people? Oh Henry, if only you could keep your mouth shut in interviews. Internationally, the film’s already made about $153m, and it’s still got about 60% of the major markets to debut in, including China.

Interestingly, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, which sits at number 2 with $15m, dropped more than anticipated, seeing a hefty 57% change from its opening week. It’s only $4.5m short of making its budget back domestically, so it will be intriguing to see if it can hold on. I still expect this thing to go the long haul. But hey, it’s already doubled its money and that soundtrack will keep karaoke bars going for years. The film did its job. It also fared better than its main competition last week, The Equalizer 2, which dropped 61% in its second week. But that film shares a more obvious target demographic with Mission: Impossible than Mamma Mia ever did.

Opening at a rather disappointing number 5, despite very strong reviews, was Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, which grossed $10.5m. That’s less than Sherlock Gnomes managed in its opening weekend - ouch - but at least this one also only cost about $10m to make.

Incredibles 2 is ever so close to grossing $1bn, with over 57% of that coming from the domestic box office, which is in and of itself mightily impressive given the current consensus of the North American audiences being a lost cause compared to international ones.

In the indie world, both Blindspotting and Eighth Grade, two highly praised films, expanded their runs and reaped the benefits. The former made $1.325m as it opened to an extra 509 theatres, while Bo Burnham’s teen drama added another 125 theatres and made $1.31m. A24 must be popping champagne corks all year round, especially since Hereditary passed $43.7m domestically and $77m worldwide.

The Chinese film Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings opened in 31 theatres with a solid $132k gross. I’m fascinated to see if this new era of Chinese blockbusters finds a fanbase in America. I’m still sad I missed The Mermaid andKung Fu Yoga.

Next week sees the release of Disney’s somewhat baffling Christopher Robin, the Kate McKinnon comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, and YA adaptation The Darkest Minds. Oh, and a new Dinesh D’Souza documentary, but fuck that guy.